Spending Money

In an effort to financially relax, since March, I’ve begun to allow myself to spend money. This is a revolutionary concept to me. My current spending budget is $75 per paycheque, which I receive every two weeks. Some of you may think $75 per two weeks is self-deprivation, but it’s quite the opposite. Compared to the near – and more typically, actual – $0 spending budget that I previously held myself prisoner to, I view $75 every two weeks as a gold mine. Whereas big spenders may equate this to poverty-like circumstances, I know all of the starving students out there (I’m an alumni of this unfortunate group) know the value of $75 biweekly. Evidently, perspective is relative to personal experience.

Learning to chill my frugalness has been freeing. I can say yes to social invitations and loosen my purse strings without guilt, as long as I stay within budget, which I do. I’ve always maintained good control over my spending. My parents had me reading personal finance books at 10 years old. Whether or not they know it, I learned the value of experiences over material things by observing them. Their non-materialism taught me to be the same way. As a result, I’m not a shopper and I’m simply not tempted by new things, such as clothes, jewellery, make up, furniture, cars, etc. This is a huge factor in my ability to effectively manage my spending.

I learned most of what I know about the value of money from being a student. I know that $10 spent on one thing could alternatively feed my roommate and I for an entire week if necessary. Although it’s not necessary anymore, I am still conscious of what it was like to be a broke, hungry university student. Survival instincts would kick in and $10 miraculously turned into seven healthy meals for two, as if we were descendants of Jesus, turning water into wine. (Note: University students don’t eat multiple meals per day. How would they pay for their tuition?) Perhaps you can see why I’m financially paranoid.

Great news though: I’m no longer a student. Two years after graduating, it’s finally sinking in that I don’t have to live like every meal may be my last anymore, and I’m taking advantage of one of the best perks of being textbook-free: disposable income. It’s a much appreciated change in my life. More so, is allowing myself to actually use that income. Along with my mindset on everything else, when I began my happiness experiment, I knew my views on money needed to change. The result has been a much more relaxed, financially empowered version of me.

To be honest, sometimes I don’t even spend the full $75. Old habits die hard. I still tend to do the free versions of things. For example, I’ll have water at a patio. I’m mainly at patios for the vibe, which I can get without a $12 drink in my hand. However, the difference now is that I’m happy to do the free version, because I know that I have the option to order a drink if I want one. It is the choice that gives me this sense of liberation; not the drink itself.

Doing this may make some people feel uncomfortable when out with friends. Luckily, I’m not easily peer pressured into buying anything that I can’t afford. I have no problem going out with friends and not ordering food or drinks. I just eat before I go and drink water when I’m out. Sometimes it’s a bit awkward when out with new friends, who occasionally wrongly presume or comment that I don’t eat at all (which is annoying, because I love food), but I’ll take a tiny bit of discomfort in favour of spending my money where I want to spend it. Life is about tradeoffs. Before, my life was about nothing at all, so the tradeoffs don’t bother me a bit.

To emphasize once again, I feel like I’m loaded! I’ve gone out more since the end of April than I have in the last four years, spending no more than $75 every two weeks. It’s been incredible! In the last two weeks alone, I’ve celebrated my half birthday, gotten drunk and went to a club for a friend’s birthday, ate pizza on a rooftop patio downtown, went to a going away party, discovered and made 100 percent healthy peanut butter and banana ice cream, experienced rain pouring down on me while laying across a train track (nerve-wracking!), finished a beloved book and started reading my latest addiction, played baseball, and fulfilled a lifelong desire to ride in a convertible. During this time, I’ve spent a total of only $33.68. Ironically, now that I have spending money, I’ve found it easier to prove to myself that I don’t need it – or at least, don’t need much of it – to have fun. Most of the things I did over the course of the past two weeks didn’t cost me anything at all.

With $41.32 left over, combined with $21.93 of my new $75 spending allotment from today’s paycheque, I can afford a ticket to Edgefest! Could I be more of a rich bitch?! Excited! By the way, the CAPTCHA code that I had to enter to purchase my ticket online was “live life.” How appropriate! Mother Mother, The Lumineers, The Neighbourhood, and many others at Downsview Park this July? I’m so there!